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IPSWICH — Manchester Summer Chamber Music (MSCM) is bringing salon-style concerts back to Ipswich this month.
For a 14th season, the ensemble will continue its beloved summer tradition: performing world-renowned chamber music in unconventional venues on the North Shore.
This year’s concerts — featuring string quartets, quintets, and piano trios by such famous composers as Brahms and Beethoven — will take place in the Barn at Castle Hill, Gathr in downtown Ipswich, and a home in Manchester-by-the-Sea.
In these intimate spaces, MSCM recreates the feel of 19th-century salon concerts, during which artists played for family and friends in their living rooms.
“There isn’t, ‘This is the musician side, this is the performance side,’” co-founder Lorna Tsai said. “The musicians and audience mingle after the concert, and it just feels very heartwarming.”
Tsai, alongside fellow North Shore native Sage Cole, founded MSCM in 2009 to bring communities together through music. They have used the ensemble to introduce classical music to contemporary settings and make it more accessible through this salon-style approach.
This summer, one of their programs will highlight a 19th-century artist who did exactly that.
“These kinds of salon concerts and giving friends and family and the community a space to enjoy music is something that Fanny Mendelssohn did herself a lot,” Cole said.
Fanny Mendelssohn, sister of renowned composer Felix Mendelssohn, was a talented composer in her own right. But as a woman in 1800s Germany, she was discouraged from pursuing a career in music, despite her obvious talent.
MSCM has decided to feature her work alongside her brother’s in a narrative performance led by pianist Ryo Yanagitani.
Initially, the ensemble was looking to present a Mendelssohn piano trio that would “excite the audience” and “be a joy to listen to,” Yanagitani said. But as the musicians delved deeper into the lives of Felix and Fanny, they realized their story carries a message of hope for today.
Fanny was an incredibly prolific composer, Yanagitani said, despite being relegated to the domestic sphere. She produced hundreds of pieces and made a name for herself that is still recognizable 200 years later.
That story can serve as an inspiration today, Yanagitani said, “especially right now, with the political landscape of all of our rights slowly being pared away.”
The music itself can also provide a sense of comfort. Many of the Mendelssohn pieces are instantly recognizable, acting like “comfort food” that we reach for in times of need, Tsai said.
“We’re all hoping that this salon concert will just allow for people to step away from their everyday lives — the difficulties, the hardships, the frustrations — and for one hour be able to … step into a completely different world,” Yanagitani said.
The concert series will begin this Saturday at the Barn with a program titled “By the Moonlight.” It will feature movements from quartets and quintets by Beethoven, Dvorak, Mendelssohn, Brahms, and Grammy Award–winning composer Jesse Montgomery.
The ensemble will then perform its “Fanny and Felix” program at a home in Manchester and at Gathr downtown.
Finally, MSCM will return to the Barn for its last two programs, “Fractured Shadows” and “Cellobration!” on August 16 and August 23, respectively.
Tickets and concert information can be found at manchestersummerchambermusic.org.
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